Eagle Lake and West Branch RailroadMeeting the Challenge of Logging in the North Maine Woodsby: Richard N. Symonds, Jr.

Many of those who explore, hunt, snowmobile, and canoe in the Allagash area in the North Maine Woods are familiar with two abandoned locomotives sitting on tracks located between Eagle Lake and Chamberlain Lake in an area known as Tramway. Tramway was named for a mechanical tramway that moved logs the 3,000 feet or so across the divide between Eagle and Chamberlain Lakes for six years in the early 1900s. While most of the visitors to the area, accessible only by water or hiking over land, are awestruck when they come across the locomotives, few are aware as to why they are there, what they did, or how they did it.

A new book, titled “Eagle Lake and West Branch Railroad, Meeting the Challenge of Logging in the North Maine Woods” by Richard N. Symonds, Jr., documents the history of the little railroad including its construction, operations, abandonment, efforts to preserve the locomotives, and importance to the logging industry in Maine. A major player in the logging industry in the area and financial backer of the building of the railroad was the Great Northern Paper Company (GNP). GNP also had a major influence on the development of the Maine towns of Millinocket and East Millinocket where their mills were located. While the emphasis of the book is on the Eagle Lake and West Branch Railroad (EL & WB RR) and its role moving logs from one watershed to another, its history is not complete without discussing the railroad’s relationships to related logging activity. The geography of the Allagash area results in the rivers and streams flowing north to the St. John River and Canada. The demand for timber products at American mills needed waterways flowing south and easterly. In the 1800s dams, locks, and cuts were constructed to modify the natural free flow direction of many of the rivers and streams. In the early 1900s, first a tramway and then a railroad accomplished the task of moving timber from one watershed to another. Then with environmental laws of the 1970s, the transportation of timber products by water gave way to the log trucks as the method of transportation. This provided not only a quicker method of moving product but also provided more flexibility in destination.

The GNP also started construction of another logging railroad prior to the EL & WB RR called the Seboomook Lake and St. John Railroad (SL & SJ RR) which later provided equipment for use on the EL & WB RR. The SL & SJ RR; the construction and operation of the Tramway; and the preservation of the Tramway and the Allagash River Waterway are discussed as an integral part of the EL & WB RR history. A five-mile connecting supply railroad called the Chesuncook and Chamberlain Railroad constructed by GNP is also discussed as an important component of the EL & WB RR history.

The EL & WB RR was constructed by Edward (King) Lacroix’s Madawaska Company for the GNP Company as the Umbazooksus and Eagle Lake Railroad (U & EL RR) in 1926 and 1927. It was never operated under that name as the railroad was purchased by the Great Northern Paper Company which renamed it the EL & WB RR. The train operated from 1927 to 1933 hauling logs 13 miles from Eagle Lake to the head of Umbazooksus Lake where logs were dumped into the lake from a 600 foot long trestle for the final leg of the trip to the Millinocket Mills by water.

There are a number of myths and discrepancies relating to the history of the railroad. Some attempts are made to resolve these issues. Ten of the more common discrepancies are discussed with the idea of trying to resolve the inconsistencies or to provide the reader with adequate information to draw their own conclusions. Some of the discrepancies could not be resolved prior to publication.Questions or comments may be submitted by contacting the author, Richard N. Symonds, Jr., at 92 Torry Rd, Tolland, CT 06084, e-mail RNSJR2@juno.com or telephone (860) 875-5002. Copies of the book are currently out of print.

Revised February 16, 2012

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